Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

Wang Chengen and Li Quan stayed in the Yumajian for nearly two hours.After watching the little drama and tasting good tribute tea, Wang Chengen blushed and walked towards the Supervisor of Rites at a leisurely pace, but the more he walked, the more he felt that there was something wrong with everything around him.Most of the people coming and going from the palace had nervous faces and hurried footsteps, and the two young eunuchs who were coming towards them were also talking furtively. When they saw Wang Chengen and Li Quan, they hurriedly stopped talking, and their appearance was very unnatural when they saluted.

"What's the matter? It's like being a thief." Wang Chengen was puzzled and asked with squinted eyes.

"Hui, Hui Gonggong..." One of the young eunuchs said tremblingly, "A group of courtiers clamored to see the emperor, and a commotion broke out outside the Xihua Gate..."

"What are they making a fuss about?" Wang Chengen frowned, looking disgusted.

"This... I don't know... I just heard that there was a lot of noise..." the little eunuch said while peeping at Wang Chengen's face.

"Elder-in-law, why don't you go and have a look?" Li Quan stepped forward and said in a low voice.Wang Chengen smacked his lips and glanced at the two young eunuchs with a displeased expression. "Forget it, let's see who upset our family's mood." After speaking, he led Li Quan to divert to Xihua Gate.

When the two arrived at the Xihua Gate, they pushed open the small red-painted door and saw more than a dozen officials in official uniforms gathered in front of the door, all of them looked angry, shouted loudly, and almost spewed fire from their eyes. .

"What's the noise?" Wang Chengen cleared his throat, put on a dignified look, and stepped out the door with his hands behind his back.When the guards saw that it was Wang Cheng'en, they all turned serious and bowed their heads cautiously.The dozen or so officials were also stunned for a moment, and stopped making noise for the time being.The leading official calmed down and stepped forward to bow to Wang Chengen. Although he tried his best to be respectful, there was still a little bit of anger left in his tone:

"Eunuch Wang, I have something important to ask to see the emperor, please trouble Eunuch Wang and ask the guards to let you go."

Wang Chengen glanced up and down, and vaguely remembered that this person worked in the Imperial Academy, but he couldn't remember his name for a while.And the people behind him, many of them even looked unfamiliar.The tall guard on the side came over and whispered in Wang Chengen's ear: "Grandpa, forgive me. You guys have already sent people to the Hall of Martial Heroes to report, but there are so many people coming at once, I really dare not let them into the palace rashly." go."

"Hmm..." Wang Chengen nodded, and gave a general salute to the official who spoke, "I don't know why the adults are so eager to see the emperor?"

"I want to ask the emperor to give an explanation about the peace talks with the Qing army!" Someone in the crowd couldn't hold back the words.

When Wang Chengen heard this, he was shocked immediately.The matter of peace negotiation is an important secret ordered by the emperor himself. Apart from Xie Sheng, Chen Xinjia and other important ministers, I am afraid that only I and Li Quan know about it. Know? !Wang Chengen's heart was throbbing, but he had no choice but to calm down, and smiled with the corners of his mouth, and said to everyone calmly:

"My lords, I'm afraid you have heard the misinformation. What kind of peace negotiation? Our family is guarding the Ritual Supervisor every day, but we have never heard of this matter."

"Each year, the tribute is ten thousand taels of gold and one million taels of silver. With Ningyuan as the boundary, Tashan pine and brocade are all owned by the enemy country. The terms have been so detailed, how can it be a misrepresentation? How can I bend the knee to the mere Jianlu Asking for peace, not to mention paying the yearly silver and cede the land to others! How can the emperor agree to such a shameful thing!" The leading official clenched his fists, and the more he spoke, the more excited he became, his voice raised an octave.The ministers behind also echoed frequently, and the scene was once again noisy.

Wang Chengen's mind sank suddenly, and he finally realized how serious the situation in front of him was.The gold and silver national boundary agreement was arrived in Beijing from Ningyuan today, I have just read it, and I have not had time to present it to the emperor in the future.These officials knew such details, needless to say, the secret must have been leaked.At the beginning, the emperor strictly ordered to keep it secret, because he was afraid that the scene in front of him would happen, but now he finally failed to keep the secret, and taught these wooden fish heads to know, not to mention that it is very difficult to proceed with the peace negotiation. The secret book was leaked to the supervisor of ceremonies, this crime of negligence and dereliction of duty, wouldn't it be impossible for him to walk away!Even though Wang Cheng'en had been trained to be slippery and sophisticated, he couldn't help feeling flustered at this moment, secretly calculating and worrying, and couldn't care less about these aggressive civil servants in front of him.

Just when Wang Chengen was in a panic and didn't know what to do, he saw another person coming out of the small red-painted door.This person was wearing a thin black gauze inlaid with jade, a golden silk crimson brocade robe, and short soap boots with dark patterns on his feet. His bright eyes were as beautiful as water, and his breath was as warm as jade.He bowed to Wang Chengen and Li Quan'an, and then bowed his hands to the officials outside the door. He spoke calmly and calmly, like a gust of warm wind, calming down these scenes that were about to be out of control:

"Your Majesty is not feeling well today, and he is currently sleeping. Please come back first, my lords. If you have anything to report, you can submit a report. After the Emperor wakes up, I will make a reply."

two

"What's going on? Ah? What's going on here!" In the supervisor of ceremonies, Wang Chengen walked up and down anxiously in the lobby, and there were crowds of people kneeling in front of him. "All of you are usually eloquent, but you are all dumb now? Ah! Who on earth peeked at the secret book and made it public again! Tell me!" Wang Chengen scolded angrily, picked up the teacup on the table, and slammed it on the ground. On the ground, everyone in the hall shook their shoulders in shock.Although the emperor has not summoned himself yet, Wang Chengen understands better than anyone else how unusual this incident is.If in case of any eventuality, the peace agreement can still be achieved, then it will be considered God's blessing, and the ancestors have accumulated virtue; but if they really die, their status, future, and even their wealth and life will most likely have to be buried with them.Li Quan stood aside, also with a serious face, his lips were slightly pursed, his slender eyes looked at Wang Chengen for a while, and then at the group of kneeling eunuchs, thinking about something.

"Back... Back to Eunuch..." At this moment, a timid voice came from the crowd, Wang Chengen stopped and looked intently, only to see Zhou Xi took a small step forward on his knees, lowered his head, and muttered Said: "It's none of the little people's business. The little people just took out the booklets from the father-in-law's inner room and sorted them out as usual. Who would have thought that the secret booklet was at the top of a pile of ordinary booklets. If you accidentally... I see... the content is confidential at first glance, and the villain once told everyone to keep quiet and deal with it when the father-in-law comes back. But during this time, someone from the Hall of Martial Arts came to pick up the papers, so I'm afraid he heard or saw something , spread out..."

"Wuyingdian? Is it Jia Wu who is running errands?" Wang Chengen frowned after thinking for a while and asked.

"No, it's not." Zhou Xi raised his head, met Wang Chengen's eyes, and shrank his head back in fright.

"Who is that?"

"Yes..." Zhou Xi swallowed his saliva and paused for a moment.This pause inexplicably made people feel that there seemed to be a hint of indescribable deliberation in his hesitation.

"Yes...it's Zhang Dexiu."

three

Hall of Martial Arts.

Xizhao pushed open the half-closed door and approached the Nuan Pavilion, only to see Chongzhen propping his head on one hand, leaning on the Arhat bed with his eyes closed, not sure if he was awake or asleep. "Your Majesty, the people outside the Xihua Gate have dispersed." Xi Zhao said softly, seeing that the Emperor didn't respond, she thought she was really asleep, and was about to get a thin quilt to cover the Emperor when she heard Chongzhen whisper One sound, I got it.

"The emperor is awake." Xi Zhao smiled, then turned and returned to Luohan's bedside to salute, "If the emperor is tired, just sleep for a while."

"Um……"

The room is quiet and quiet, the tranquil sunlight shines through the cracks in the window and falls on the simple mahogany bookshelf, and there is a wisp of sandalwood faintly floating in the air.Chongzhen responded heavily, but opened his eyes, and said in a low voice: "Stay quietly for a while, and the booklet will be sent in."

"Your Majesty said..." Xi Zhao said halfway through, but she understood it, so she didn't ask any more questions, and stepped forward to put the slipped robe back on Chongzhen's shoulders. "If the emperor finds it bothersome, just tell the prince not to send the notebook. Anyway, the emperor knows what they want to say."

But Chongzhen didn't take Xizhao's words, he just paused, and muttered to himself: "It's over here...it's over here...it's finally time to end the matter. "

"Could it be that the peace talks really can't go ahead if the officials are against it?" Xizhao put on a robe for Chongzhen and stood by the bed, "Forgive Dexiu for speaking bluntly. Dexiu thinks Master Chen is right. , I'm afraid Da Ming won't have a chance to breathe again."

"I don't know..." Chongzhen closed his eyes again, and heaved a long sigh, "It's just that there has never been such a precedent in the more than 200 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. This kind of forced negotiation was done secretly, but it was done publicly. It is impossible to explain it to the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty...not to mention the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period, as long as the □□Chengzu is suppressed, I will have no reason to insist on peace talks."

"...I don't know where the news leaked out..." Xi Zhao sighed, feeling helpless in her heart, and after a moment of silence, Fang continued: "At noon, I went to the Supervisor of Rituals to pick up the papers, and before entering the door, I vaguely heard someone talking about peace negotiations. Two words, there was no sound after entering the door, but I felt that the atmosphere seemed a little strange, and I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but now that I think about it, maybe something went wrong with the Supervisor of Ceremonies."

"Is it the supervisor of ceremonies..." Chongzhen's face turned cold when he heard the words, but he calmed down for a moment, sat up, put on his shoes and boots, adjusted his clothes, put his hands on his knees, and spoke calmly as usual. "Hey... No matter where or who it is, whether it is intentional or not, in short, it is God's will."

four

"Heh...heh...this is God's will." Wang Chengen asked Zhou Xi carefully in the inner room of the Sili Supervisor, and saw him leave the room with a sneer on his face, and finally heaved a sigh of relief, "Since this Dexiu It’s so hard to come at this time, and let him take the blame. Maybe in the end, we will get rid of the crimes against our family and get rid of Zhang Dexiu, who is an eyesore, killing two birds with one stone.” He sipped slowly. After taking a sip of tea, he turned his head and said to Li Quan, "Don't tell me, Zhou Xi is a good young man with a bright mind, and he deserves to be promoted."

Li Quan sat aside, narrowing his eyes, thinking about something. "This matter... I'm afraid it's not that simple." After a short pause, Li Quancai finally uttered a sentence, but was interrupted hastily by Wang Chengen, who put down his teacup. "What's not simple, I think it's good, just push the matter to him, even if the emperor wants to protect him and not punish him, as long as our family is safe and sound."

"Father-in-law, don't worry, that's not what you said about it." Li Quan smiled calmly, and explained calmly, "Eunuch knows how the emperor treats Zhang Dexiu, and if you push the matter to him Well, the emperor will definitely keep him from running away. At that time, the responsibility will be turned around, and he may have to be taken back to the Prison of Rituals. Besides, the villain has heard rumors that no matter how confidential the affairs of the Wuying Hall are, they are always I don’t want to avoid Zhang Dexiu. Although this rumor is not certain, judging from Zhang Dexiu’s inseparable relationship with the emperor, it is estimated that it is probably true. He probably knows as much as us, so why bother to peek at our memorial; besides If he had known about the peace talks early in the morning, how could he not have spread the word until now. After thinking about it carefully, the father-in-law couldn't make any sense. This Zhang Dexiu is no different than ordinary eunuchs, not to mention whether the emperor will protect him or not. Whether the blame can be passed on to him is still a question."

"Hmm..." Hearing Li Quan's words, Wang Chengen hugged his chest with both hands, lowered his brows and pondered for a long time, finally nodded and said: "You are right, our family was impatient and lost our minds." Then, The face that had been stretched just now was twisted again, "Then tell me, how should this matter be resolved?"

"Dare to ask my father-in-law, who are the people who come to the father-in-law's inner room to pick up the booklets every day?" Li Quan didn't respond to Wang Chengen's words, but asked instead.

"Zhou Xi." Wang Chengen replied casually, and suddenly his heart moved, and he understood. "you mean……?"

"If something happens, someone has to take the responsibility. Zhang Dexiu has an extraordinary relationship with the emperor. If you want to get rid of him, you shouldn't act hastily. Since the father-in-law just wants to put the responsibility aside, then find someone who is irrelevant to take the responsibility. .” Li Quan said, smiling meaningfully, “As long as the father-in-law is willing.”

"Ha, why don't you be reluctant." Wang Chengen frowned, and raised the corner of his mouth contemptuously, "But it's a bit of a pity to use him to stand up, and you must help our family find another smart one to serve."

"Needless to say, I have to choose a better one for my father-in-law." Li Quan agreed with a smile, his eyelids drooped, and the expression in his eyes was hidden in the depths, and the smile on his face was neither fast nor slow, nor warm No fire, neither thick nor light, impeccable.